“Prick tease,” Sleipnir muttered, fondly.
Away with you, I didn’t imagine the fondly.
“But I don’t have a prick to tease…” Magenta’s brow furrowed.
I peeked at her from underneath my eyelashes, then slinked down, until my lips were closer to an even more tempting part of her. “If it pleases you, I can improvize.”
I pressed my mouth along her thigh and then inward, as she quivered. Sleipnir wasn’t the only one with a talented tongue.
Suddenly, Magenta squawked, sitting up. Her magic sparked, prickling my nose. I fell backward onto my arse.
Fox chuckled.
She’d repelled a Bask Attack…? I must’ve become less pettable. Did she still even want me? Did I not please her anymore?
I whined, as my own biology punished me even at the thought. Well, that was a boot to the balls.
“Stop panicking,” Magenta’s voice was quiet but commanding. It shot tingles right through me. I liked that. I also loved the way that her magic now stroked over me in apology. “You’ll forever please me. Forgive my magic, you simply startled me. Your hand went straight through Flair, and his insult was rather colorful.”
My eyes widened, and I straightened myself with a toss of my head.
That she was pleased with me, sparkled like champagne bubbles, feeding me with pleasure.
“Your familiars are here…?” Sleipnir blinked. “When did Tweedle Dee and Tweele Dum arrive?”
Magenta grimaced. “They were scouting for me to find out about the mission, but Flair has just informed me that if you refer to him as a character from Alice in Wonderland again, then he’ll stick his beak right up your rabbit hole.”
“He needs his beak washing out with soap,” Sleipnir muttered.
I bounced onto my knees. “Go on, call them the Cheshire Crows!”
Magenta fixed me with a stern glare. “Flair says that your rabbit hole isn’t safe either.”
I squeaked but then narrowed my eyes. “You’re making it up.”
Magenta waved an airy hand. “My familiars flapped across the lake and joined us about half an hour ago. They’re snuggling on my lap right now. Flair is creatively universal in his insults.”
I arched my brow.
I wouldn’t be intimidated by a witch and her invisible familiars. Then my shoulders slumped. Magenta had nothing to fear from me but multiple orgasms, and she knew it.
Magenta’s expression gentled. “Echo is too busy to join in the threats because he’s been singing his elf victory song. He has a charmingly unique voice.” Then she sang so off-key that my ears ached, “Screw the elf, save the world. Screw the elf, save the world. Screw the el—”
I winced. “How about screw the incubus and save our ears?”
Sleipnir raised his hand. “You have my vote.”
I still had it.
Fox glanced up from the snowcat that he was building. He’d used a fallen branch as its tail, pushed a pebble onto its head to be its nose, and drawn on whiskers. Now, he was molding its ears as lovingly as if he expected it to spring to life.
“Seconded. These screwing to save the world dilemmas are tough on us superheroes. Just last week, I was faced with screwing Harley Quinn.” He smirked at the possessive way Sleipnir’s hair bristled to red. That was a fine bit of alpha posturing, when we all knew that last week, the most our whipping boy had been doing with his dick was wanking with it. “It’s okay, I didn’t go through with it. Batman was just bouncing up and down to do the honors. You should’ve seen his excited little face. I mean, I couldn’t actually see his face behind the mask, but he was up for it.” Fox smiled at us innocently. “So, what did the familiars find out about the mission?”
Magenta sighed. “Do you know the ruins? Almost five hundred years ago, the first Blessedly Charmed witch was born. I’m the only other one born after her, and it rather appears that I’ve corrupted the magic. To be kept pure, they built a small house in the grounds for a nanny and her alone.” When her hands bunched in her lap, I wondered if she was crushing one of her familiars or if they’d already flapped somewhere else. I wished that she was holding me, even if she crushed me. “Wasn’t I lucky to be kept only in the Bird Turret?”
“As lucky as me only to be locked in the attic, rather than thrown to the wolves like my brother,” Fox muttered.
“Flair says that there’s powerful magic in the ruins that doesn’t belong there.” Magenta’s eyes narrowed. “The House of Crows have stolen it from the angels: A Gateway.”
Fox froze. “I read the word Gateway with my power from Damelza on my first night. She was one pissed off witch.”
Sleipnir sprawled on the snow, cradling his head on his hands. “How’d you think we travel from the academy to other realms? The Gateway is both a powerful weapon and a way to walk between worlds. They shouldn’t exist outside Angel World, but I’d take a guess that our fae patron is asshole enough to steal one. Then he’s using the academy students like his personal mercenaries.”
“Expendable mercenaries,” I added.
I remembered the way that Hector had fought the demons in the Eternal Forest because we’d messed up the stealthy plan and been discovered. I was haunted by the look of fear in his eyes, as he’d been snatched away from me. I’d battled to his side, but I wasn’t a warrior, and I hadn’t been fast enough. I hadn’t even seen what’d pulled him up into the air like he’d been wrapped in shadows, but then, he’d been ripped apart. His blood had wept across my face. It’d baptized my cheeks, nose, and lips.
Red, red, red.
I scrubbed my hand across my cheeks frantically. They were wet. But incubi didn’t cry.
Please don’t let it be blood…
I bit back a horrified gasp, and my breath became ragged.
Fox shot me a concerned glance. Then I noticed the snowflakes resting on his eyelashes. He was beautiful, and he was alive. My breath steadied.
It was snow, resting as gently as petals across my face.
There was no blood. But my slinky self would be going through that Gateway again tomorrow. What if it was the mage’s blood coating my face then?
After all, I’d failed to protect Hector.
I squared my shoulders. I was an incubi of the Night Lineage. I’d promised to protect and love Fox and I would. I wouldn’t let him be drawn into the darkness away from me. An incubus never let go of any of his lovers. Magenta, Fox, and Sleipnir were mine just like my pillows. There was no higher love than Pillow Love. Seriously, check the love poems on it. There must be loads.
Magenta shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself. “Surely, they can’t be expecting us to carry out their dirty work…?”
Sleipnir shoved himself to his feet, stalking to the edge of the lake. “Valhalla! We’re assassins who kill. We’re not scouts, selling cookies.”
Magenta elegantly rose up, floating after him. “Why would an army scout attempt to sell baked goods?”
Sleipnir pulled her to him by her waist and kissed her forehead. “I’m not even attempting to explain boy scouts and cookies.”
I grinned. “I often get those two mixed up anyway, which is messy.”
Fox drew a smile onto his snowcat with his little finger, then twisted back to us with a smile that was as wide as his creation’s. “Ta da! Let me introduce you to the Leader of the Abominable Snowcats. Once, there was a whole tribe of them but a couple of years ago, they wouldn’t listen and insisted that they swim the river Thames for charity.” He bit his trembling lip, and I dived across the snow to curl my hand comfortingly around his neck. Wait, had he just conned a snuggle out of me for the fictional deaths of the Snowcats? He rubbed against my cheek, before winking slyly. “It’s okay, it’s all water under the bridge now.”